Monday, June 19, 2017

So, Will President* Trump Just Fire Everyone?

he
latest transmission from the bowels of Camp Runamuck leads me to
believe that the next step may be for the president* to fire everyone
within a five-mile radius of the White House. (Sorry about that, you
guys in the food trucks, as well as everyone who plays for the Capitals
and the Wizards.) After which, he will find himself a lawyer from one of
those billboards that line I-75 in Florida.

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Late Friday morning, Himself got a hold of his phone,
leaped onto the electric Twitter machine, and decided that it was time
to take a piece out of Rod Rosenstein, even if that meant confirming
that, yes, he is being investigated by the FBI.

And, somewhere in the West Wing, an earnest young aide
who once had a promising political career reaches into the bottom
drawers of their desk for that vintage quart of Kentucky Gentleman that
Uncle Dub down in Murfreesboro left in the will.

Meanwhile, back in the world, according to ABC News, Rosenstein may have to join Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III on the bench.

Rosenstein, who authored an extensive and publicly-released
memorandum recommending Comey's firing, raised the possibility of his
recusal during a recent meeting with Associate Attorney General Rachel
Brand, the Justice Department's new third-in-command, according to
sources. Although Rosenstein appointed a special counsel to lead the
federal probe, he still makes the final decisions about resources,
personnel and -- if necessary -- any prosecutions. In the recent meeting
with Brand, Rosenstein told her that if he were to recuse himself, she
would have to step in and take over those responsibilities. She was
sworn-in little more than a month ago.

Here, from the LawFare
blog, is some speculation concerning what might happen next. Basically,
the whole mess will descend on a lawyer named Rachel Brand, the
associate attorney general.

In addition to these regulatory duties, Brand will face the
tough task of insulating the investigation from the erratic and
inappropriate behavior of President Trump. Such insulation is needed for
the integrity of the investigation, so that any decisions it may reach
about prosecution or exoneration have credibility. This task will
require backbone—and a willingness not to last long in the job.

That sounds like enormous fun. The Tweet of Dumbocles hangs over your head the minute you walk in the door.

As if this weren't enough, and it never is, NBC's Katy Tur tweets
that Michael Cohen, the president*'s personal lawyer, has hired one of
his own, probably to prepare to testify before the House Intelligence
Committee in September. The lawyers now need their own lawyers. This is
in no way promising.

It's on days like this where you wonder most acutely
whether or not this president* has it all together above the shoulders.
Picking a fight with Rosenstein—who, just a day earlier, had contributed
a bizarre warning about anonymous sources to the gathering chaos—makes
as little sense as firing James Comey did, and admitting that the FBI is
on your trail for having done so is tantamount to double-dog-daring the
Feds to run you to ground. The idea that he wouldn't fire both Robert
Mueller and Rosenstein before breakfast some morning because Brian
Kilmeade said he should do it is more than plausible. It's now likely.

To gain some perspective, let's listen in to a White House conversation from June 21, 1972, via The New York Times.
The president at the time was concerned about some law-enforcement
activities. His chief of staff was called upon to explain matters.

The problem is that there are all kinds of other
involvements and if they started a fishing expedition on this they're
going to start picking up tracks. . . . The only tie they've got to the
White House is that this guy's name was in their books, Howard Hunt, and
that Hunt used to be a consultant ---- to Colson at the White House. . .
. You've got to be careful of pushing that too hard, because he was
working on a lot of stuff. . . . It leads to other things.

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